Letter-box



(N0 Model.)

T. S. SCOVILLE.

LETTERYBOX.

N0.q359,548. Patented Mar. 15, 1887.

win i :2 E f N. PETERS, Pboh-Llthngmphln Washington. a, c.

NITED STATES V PATENT FFICE.

THADDEUS S. SOOVILLE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOVILLIAM Ir. LANCE, SR, OE WHITING, NEW JERSEY, AND HENRY TANNER, OEBUFFALO, NEW YORK.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 359,548, dated March15, 1887.

Application filed August 31, 1886.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THADDEUS S. SooV-ILLE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of NewYork, have invented an Improved Postal Box and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention consistsin an improved postal or letter-receiving boxhaving a receiving-aperture provided with a movable lid or shutterwholly or partially closing it, and a movable valve or shield-plate inthe receptacle, adapted to close the passage to the part below, whichreceives the letters, papers, and packages, against access from abovewhen the receiving-aperture is opened, and to partially open'thepassage-way in the receptacle to allow the letters, papers, and packagesto descend below the said valve or shield-plate when thereceiving-aperture is closed, substantially as and for the purposehereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front view of a postal orletter-receiving box constructed with my improvements; Fig. 2, avertical section of the same in a plane cutting from front to back.

Like letters designate corresponding parts in both of the figures.

In the drawings, A represents the receptacle having a locked door, a,near the bottom for gaining access to the receptacle by the postal clerkor carrier. In all respects, except as to my improvement and itsapplication thereto, the construction of the box may be as usual, or asdesired." Near the top of the box is the aperture or mouth Z), throughwhich letters, papers, and packages are deposited in the interiorreceptacle, A. I make this aperture sufficiently large or wide to admitpapers and packages as large as the receptacle will ordinarilyaccommodate. To make the aperture thus wide it will also admit the handof aperson, and of course unless some provision is made to prevent anyperson from reaching or getting access to the letters, papers, orpackages deposited in the receptacle, there would be no security againstpurloining them; and

yet a properly-secured postal box having such Serial No. 212,189. (Nomodel.)

an enlarged aperture obviously is very desirable, since now papers andpackages are often too large to deposit in post-office boxes, and ifsent to mail in that way such papers and packages have to be simply laidupon the top of the box, subject continually to theft, especially fromstreet-boxes. Now, by my invention all of this difficulty and loss isobviated by avery simple device, as shown in the drawings.

I provide the receiving-aperture b of the box with a closing orpartially-closing lid or shutter, B, and so arrange the said lid orshutter as to wholly or partially close the receivingaperture I) whenleft free, as shown by full lines in the drawings. I say wholly orpartially close the aperture, since a narrow portion of the aperture maybe left permanently open sufficient to deposit letters through, asshown'in the drawings, so that letters may be deposited in thereceptacle without moving the lid or shutter; but when papers orpackages are too large to insert through such a narrow opening, Iprovide for moving the lid or shutter B away from the aperture b, asshown by dotted lines in the drawings, so that then such papers orpackages can be freely inserted in the receptacle. The said lid orshutter may be constructed-and arranged in any desired way to effect thepurpose. I have shown in the drawings this lid or shutter as moving upto close and down to open the aperture by a sliding movement. The mainbody 61 of the lid or shutter is represented as sliding inside of thefront wall, 6, of the box, while a front wing, f, thereof is folded overat the top and moves up and down outside of the said front wall of thebox. It has a finger-piece or flange,

9, turned out at the lower edge of the front wing, by which it is drawndown when a per son has occasion to open the aperture. It

should have springs or equivalent means tov force it upwardautomatically as soon as it is let go by the hand of the person openingit. I have shown coiled springs h inside of the box, running on fixedrods 1' for the purpose, the lid or shutter having bearing strips orlugs 70 k to slide on the rods, and the springs pressing upward againstthelowerlugs. Obviously the said sliding lid or shutter is notsufficient of itself to fulfill the purpose of this invention,

ICO

since it does not protect the contents of the receptacle from theft.

To complete this invention, a backwardlyinclined valve or shield-plate,G, is placed across the interior receptacle, A, just below thereceiving-aperture, so as partially to close the passage to the lowerpart of the receptacle, in the following manner: \Vhen thereeeiving-aperture is closed by the lid or shutter B, there issufiicient passage-way in the receptacle back of the rear edge of thesaid valve or shield-plate to allow letters, papers, and packages todescend to the lower depository part of the receptacle, as shown by fulllines in Fig. 2. The said valve or shield-plate in that position is alsosufficiently inclined to allow the letters, papers, or packages tofreely slide back to the rear passage and drop therefrom into thedepository; but when the lid or shutter B is depressed or opened thevalve or shield-plate is caused simultaneously and automatically to turnor move into a position whereby the rear passage will be closed, or sofar closed as to effectually prevent a person from inserting his handbehind it, or to insert anyinstrnment through the passage and abstractany letters, papers, or packages thereby, and preferably the said valveis at the same time turned into an approximately horizontal position,with the rear part moved well up ward, as shown by dotted lines in Fig.2. In order that the movements of this valve or shield-plate maybeautomatic and in harmony with the movements of the lid or shutter, Iprovide for the connection of the two movements, so that when the lidorshutterismoved the valve or shield-plate will be moved properly at thesame time. I have shown in the drawings the lid or shutter hinged to thevalve or shield-plate at their upper adjacent edges; and the valve orshield-plate rests near its middle on a transverse bearing rod, Z, onwhich it turns, as desired. There are also guide-loops m at the ends ofthe said valve or shield-plate, which work over the fixed rod Z, ortheir equivalent, to guide their movements. The shield-plate mayoscillate, slide, turn, or have any convenient movement or construction;

There is or may be a projecting or overhanging ledge or flange, a, atthe top of the box immediately over and in front of thereceivingaperture of the boX, to assist in guarding against theinsertion of any instrument downward and backward through the passage ofthe receptacle; also, to protect the receptacle from storms.

I claim as my invention The combination, in a postal box, of areceptacle, A, having a receiving-aperture, b, opening into its upperpart, a sliding lid or shutter, B, automatically closing the aperture ofthe receptacle nearly or entirely, and adapted to be moved aside by thehand in inserting the letters or articles to be mailed into thereceptacle, and a movable shutter or valve, 0, partially or entirelyseparating the receptacle to form two compartments therein, andconnected with the sliding lid or shutter, substantially as herein setforth, whereby itis moved to open a passage between the upper and lowercompartments of the receptacle when the said lid or shutter closes theaperture into the receptacle, and to separate the compartments when thelid or shutter opens the aperture into the receptacle, substantially\Vitnesscs:

J. G. DAVISON, llni'ny Mares.

